0-200kph in 7.8 seconds and red engine-bay lighting for new Super Series cars

The new McLaren Super Series cars – that’s the 650S replacements to you and I – are getting a new engine. Goodbye, 3.8-litre bi-turbo V8. Hello, 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8. No, it’s not a total baby-out-with-the-bathwater job, but the new generation McLarens have never wanted for power, so McLaren’s sticking with a recipe it knows inside-out.

McLaren says the ‘M840T’ V8 will punt its new carbon-tubbed supercar – codenamed P14 – from 0-200kph in 7.8 seconds. Sounds fast, but a bit meaningless, right? Here’s the jaw-dropping context: that’s half a second quicker than the ballistic Ferrari 488 GTB and, conversely, just half a second slower than the original, all-wheel drive quad-turbo Bugatti Veyron. The glorious, unhinged 675 LT did 0-200kph in 7.9 seconds, by the way.

That is to say, the new Super Series is indecently quick. McLaren says its new ultra-low inertia twin-scroll turbos have dramatically reduced turbo lag too, as they look to catch up with Ferrari’s freakishly smooth 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8. Sounds like they might have overdone it…

Author: TopGear

TopGear is the world’s best-selling motoring magazine. The Malaysian edition holds similar status, as acknowledged by the industry.